


Mistletoe , mistletoe

by lizzie_pj



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Baxley, Christmas Fluff, Downton Abbey - Freeform, F/M, Married Life, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzie_pj/pseuds/lizzie_pj
Summary: It's Christmas Eve at Downton Abbey and lingering in doorways might be a good idea (or not?) with mistletoe hanging everywhere. At least for Joseph Molesley. Follows him from his ungrateful task at the big house and to his own home. Second chapter: What happens when a Christmas day surprise goes wrong.





	1. under the mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish to own these characters and the wonderful world around them, I still don't.
> 
> A/N: I know the mistletoe - theme is not a very innovative one, but well, this is my humble contribution to it. I hope it's not too OOC because lately, I have been feeling a little out of it and this is the first thing I wrote after a bad case of writer's block. So please, more than ever before I ask you to tell me if this is crap. Honestly.

It was the afternoon of the 24th December 1927 and just like in the last years since he had left his job at the Abbey to become a permanent teacher, Joseph Molesely was once more helping out at the big house over the holidays. And just like always, the last days had seemed as if the Christmas preparations would never be completed in time and instead go on forever. But, despite all doubts, the main hall had been decorated as stunningly as usual with just the right amount of glitter and holly and an impressive Christmas tree that inadvertendly caught the eye of everyone who entered the room. Daisy and Mrs. Patmore had outdone themselves once more with the various foods they had cooked for that day's Christmas dinner as well as the three-story cake, with chocolate, Christmas spices and fillings of orange and vanilla. Earlier, Daisy had secretly told him – on the condition that he wouldn't mention it to anyone else - that they had made a smaller version of the cake for their own servant's dinner.

That was how Molesley found himself standing in the middle of the doorway between the kitchen and the hall that led to the stairs, looking very much forward to said dinner, while people were buzzing around him putting up some last minute decoration or finishing their work in a hurry, in order not to miss the celebrations later on. It was a custom for the servants at Downton Abbey to have their own Christmas dinner which was, though less extravagant than the one upstairs, still an improvement to the usual meals. And even though Daisy and the cook did the most work, all the others were taking part in making the evening as nice as possible as well. He himself had been assigned to put up some mistletoe, a task that he had yet to finish seeing as most of the branches were still in his hand instead of at the walls and on doorframes.

When Molesley heard some joyful chatter from the nearby servant's hall, he woke up from his daydreaming about cake and realized that it was one of the places that were still lacking the mistletoe decoration. So, he took the few steps out of the kitchen to be able to peek inside the servant's hall. He had overheard some hallboys earlier talking about the little boy Anna had brought up to the big house for the occasion and he wondered if he would find a moment to greet the sweet and bright two-year-old and give him the box of sweets that was safely tucked inside his pocket as a small present. Whenever Molesley had occasionally met Anna and her son by chance in the village, the boy had been particularly interested in the school and the books the teacher carried around with him. In fact so much, that Anna had started to tease her son about his obvious obsession by jokingly threatening him to send him to school years early.

As soon as Molesley came to a halt in the doorway, he greeted by the most adorable sight. Anna's boy was sitting on the table, his head halfway turned from the door so that he couldn't see the new arrival. Apparently, he had had a piece of chocolate cake of which the remains were now smeared across his face. Anna, who was in the middle of setting the table stopped her work and smiled apologetically to the person across the room who was helping her to get the table ready for dinner.

„Sorry", she said, „Do you think you could manage without us for a moment? I guess I better take him to the bathroom before he manages to cover the whole place in chocolate."

„Of course, you go ahead and I'll clean up here. We don't want him to give away the surprise dessert now, do we?", the other lady's maid replied with a small smile on her lips as well.

„Oh! Too late for that, I'm afraid", Anna said in surprise when she turned and saw Mr. Molesley leaning against the doorframe, and added in a playful tone, „Mr. Molesley, have you been spying on us?"

„N-no", he stuttered, shaking his head vigorously, „I was just … mistletoe", he said after a while, holding one of the branches up, fastening it above the door. But Anna was already out of earshot at the other end of the hall and the other woman had resumed her work of setting the table for dinner. With a soft sigh Molesley leaned against the doorframe and let his thoughts wander once more. In this household, he always tended to wish he was invisible – he would never make friends as easily as Anna or be as sociable as Andy or even develop leadership qualities like Mr. Barrow had done. He would never move around getting work done as swiftly as the woman inside the room did just then. Instinctively his gaze turned towards her moving around the room as if she knew exactly what to do. He watched her for a while, silently marveling at how beautiful she looked with a dreamy smile on her lips while she was arranging plates and glasses on the table, or when she elegantly put a wavy strand of hair that had worked its way out of her hairdo back behind her ear.

Without looking up, she broke the comfortable silence after a few minutes, chuckling slightly when she said, „You should be careful standing there. One might think you are just waiting to be caught under the mistletoe, and you never know who will walk through this doorway next."

„You are right, I best be going. I still have a few of these to put up somewhere", he replied and turned to leave, albeit reluctantly.

In a blink, she was standing right before him, though. Of course, she had noticed how Molesley had watched her earlier and while she had gotten used to the feeling over the time she still found it rather flattering. Nevertheless, it wasn't anything she wanted the others to witness. There was more than enough talk going around among the staff without them adding to it.

However, she couldn't really blame him that day. Putting up the mistletoe really was an ungrateful task, she thought. Half of the people would later hate the person who hung them because they were stuck under one with the wrong person and the other half would because their loved one was to kiss someone else or break with the tradition. Also, the person who hung them would most likely not get to kiss anybody that night because they obviously knew where the mistletoe was hidden and – in order not to appear desperate by lingering under one – would avoid those spots.

When an idea popped into her head, she leaped forward and snatched one spray of the seasonal plant from Molesley's hand. A little perplexed she noticed that her own mischievous expression was met with a very similar one. With a half-smile and a twinkle in his eyes and unusually high spirits, Molesley remarked, „I don't know what you are up to, but ..." trailing off, he indicated his finger upwards to the plant now hanging directly above them.

Immediately, the lady's maid's face went from amused to downright shocked. Why hadn't she thought of how close they would be as soon as she leapt forward? She looked around like a frightened doe, making sure that no one was near before she turned back to the man in front of her and hurriedly placed a short kiss on his lips. Then, without another word, she walked away in the same direction as Anna had done a few minutes earlier, possibly to find the other woman. Molesley stood still for a moment thinking about the kiss before he realized that he was still lingering under the mistletoe. Quickly, he made his way up to the first landing of the stairs to tie some of the remaining plants to the railing. He wouldn't want anybody else to find him standing under the branch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That evening, it was quiet late when Molesley finally made his way home. After their own celebration downstairs he had been required to help Andy and Mr. Barrow clearing the table upstairs from the remains of the Christmas dinner. Afterwards, he had found Anna and her little one waiting for Mr. Bates in the servant's hall and had finally given the boy his Christmas gift before the small family had made their way home. Then, Daisy, who was ever so eager to discuss a book they both recently read, had caught him and there had went his chance to call it a night at a decent time. He hadn't even had the chance to talk to the woman who had so hurriedly kissed him and then left before he had had the time to respond.

Not only most of the people at Downton were probably asleep at the time he went home but also most of the village. Therefore, it surprised him all the more that there was still light coming from the windows of his own cottage.

When he entered his house, closed the door behind him and then went to take off his cloak and hat, he was confronted with the woman who had occupied his thoughts for the better part of the evening. She was leaning against the doorway to the living room in a fashion very similar to his own earlier, having changed from her work dress to a loose fitting cream-coloured nightgown while her hair was now in simple plaid.

„It's rather late", she simply stated., „I hope Thomas didn't make you work too hard."

„No", Molesley said, shaking his head and explaining in apology, „I was discussing a book with Daisy and we forgot the time."

„Daisy?", she asked a little skeptically, with a raised eyebrow.

„Yes, why? Wait … a-are you jealous?", Molesley questioned, partly amused but partly worried that he might have hit a nail there.

„Of Daisy? God, no! I was just teasing you, and I'm amazed that she is still keeping up with her studies."

„It's a good thing she is."

„Yes, and it's wonderful that you still support her. You are wonderful", she smiled, holding out her hand and indicating for him to move closer.

Molesley took a few steps forward and held the woman close to him. He shook his head softly, ready to give some modest reply when he noticed the smile plastered on her face.

„What is it?", he asked, clueless as ever.

„It seems that for the second time today, you have managed to get yourself caught under the mistletoe", she beamed at him.

Involuntarily, his eyes shot upwards to find the little branch she had stolen from him earlier now fastened above their living room door. At the sight and the idea behind it a smile crept across his face. This was, after all, a much more appropriate place to be caught together under the mistletoe than the servant's hall.

„I hope you didn't think that this little peck was all you would get tonight", she suggestively whispered while putting her arms around his neck and pulling him closer towards her.

She slightly shivered when she felt his hands around her waist through the thin material of the dress, thinking herself silly for still being as affected by that simple touch. Both looked at each other lovingly before their lips met once again in a kiss that held much more vigour and passion than the one a few hours earlier.

„Merry Christmas, Mr. Molesley", she whispered when they parted after a while, their foreheads touching and their eyes still closed.

„And a very merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Molesley", he replied.

The couple enjoyed the simple nearness of each other for a moment longer before they made their way upstairs and to the bedroom. If Molesley had for one moment on this day believed that he would find sleep early that night, he knew then he had been gravely mistaken. Not that he would actually mind, though.


	2. breakfast in bed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas day has arrived and suprise doesn't go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: this little continuation of the first chapter takes place the morning after Christmas Eve. Actually, it's just a piece of fluffy nonsence that could take place on any day and that I needed to write in order to get into the writing again (still feeling a bit rusty, though).
> 
> I hope you guys are having a wonderful Christmas. I've had a great last night and a very relaxing day today, thankfully.
> 
> If you like this or you don't, please leave a comment.

Phyllis woke up with an abrupt start on Christmas day to the sound of something crashing to the floor. For a short moment she wondered if whatever caused that noise was worth leaving the comfort of her bed for. However, when she opened her eyes to see that her husband had already gotten up, she reluctantly untagled herself from the warmth of the covers and stood up, rolling her eyes a little annoyedly when she put two and two together and concluded that the source could only have been him with his natural clumsiness. Quickly, she put on her dressing gown before she made her way downstairs to have a look at whatever mess he had managed to make this early in the morning. Being in a hurry she didn't take the time to look around the bedroom and therefore couldn't find her slippers, so she shivered slightly when her bare feet hit the cold stone floor of the landing to the stairs.

Looking down, her eyes followed a trail of destruction. A splintered jam glass of which the contents were now all over the floor, broken porcelain, spilled milk and a small bouquet of flowers were only a few of the things that had fallen down on the stairs. The first thing she spotted of her husband, who was already fully dressed, were his shoe-clad feet which were stood right in a puddle of a dark liquid that she supposed was coffee, in the doorway that led to the kitchen. As Phyllis let her eyes wander upwards, she noticed the broken tray that was dangling awkwardly from his right arm. So that was what this mess was all about.

If even so much as a spark of irritation had flashed through her mind upon the scene in front of her, it instantly disappeared as soon as she locked her eyes with the guilty looking ones from the man downstairs. His apologetic, lopsided smile and the way in which he sighed almost sadly when he saw that he had been found were all it took to make her anger subside and instead replace it with a need to comfort her husband. He looked quite a mess himself, apparently more than disappointed in himself that the effort he had made had not worked out the way he wanted it to.

With a repentant look and a shrug he greeted her, "I'm sorry that I've woken you up. One should think I'd be able to carry a tray up the stairs, having been a footman and all, but it seems I'm just as useless once again."

Phyllis grimaced slightly at the words. She hated it whenever he spoke so low of himself, especially when it was everything but his fault that something went wrong. "The tray broke", she stated, pointing to the broken piece of wood in his hand. Slowly, she began to make her way downstairs – partly to clean up the broken things and partly to reassure her husband that she really wasn't mad at him.

For a moment he only stared at the descending woman before him and she felt herself blushing slightly under his openly adoring look. Then, Joseph snapped out of his daydreaming and lept forward and up the stairs towards his wife, stopping her from going any further. "Don't!" he shouted, then, upon seeing her frown confusedly at him, he added in a less demanding tone, "Let me help you, you're not wearing any shoes and I don't want you to hurt yourself on the broken glass."

Almost as soon as the words had left his mouth Phyllis found herself scooped up in his arms so he could carry her down the stairs. She had long since given up on being astounded by his unsuspected strenght but that didn't keep the giddish feeling that filled her stomach from expanding throughout her body whenever he did something as caring as making sure she didn't hurt herself. Moments like this tended to make her remember that Joseph was really the first person who had ever cared as much about her as she did for him. Never before had she had experienced someone being so attentive towards her and her needs without ever asking for something in return. Even after all their time together it still made her smile a little foolishly and she was thankful that in this particular moment Joseph's concentration was on avoiding any of the things on the floor and he therefore didn't notice. She would have felt silly if he knew how she still sometimes harboured that irrational thought that he was more than she deserved.

After they had reached the downstairs, Phyllis soon rushed into the kitchen to fetch a sweeping broom and bin for the glass and broken china as well as some towels to wipe up the spilled coffee. She got back only to find that her husband had already started to collect the shards in his hands.

"Now you're the one who's being careless, let me take care of this and you clean away the coffee", she ordered, carefully taking the shards from his hand and putting them in the small dustbin. "See, you already hurt yourself", she added when she spotted blood emerging from a tiny cut on the inside of his index finger. Slowly, she raised the hand to her lips and softly kissed the blood and the pain away. Joseph's head snapped up at the sensation of his wife's lips against his skin and they both became oddly aware of the intimacy of the situation. After everything they had shared with each other it was unexpected but welcoming at the same time that such a simple touch could still be this exciting. Before they had the time to get lost in each other though, Phyllis pulled back and asked, her voice slightly creaking, "What were you doing down here, anyway? It's early and it's my half-day off, I was hoping for a lie in with you."

"But it's Christmas morning, my dear", Joseph explained in a tone that vaguely implied that she might have forgotten about the holiday. "I thought a special treat for my wonderful wife would be a nice change, so I prepared for a breakfast in bed. I'm sorry that you have to clean up the remains of what was supposed to be a surprise, now."

"Oh, you dear man! There's absolutely nothing to be sorry for. It isn't your fault that this old tray chose to quit its service today."

After they had gotten married, they had promised each other that they would do everything to make each and every day as special as possible and even though Phyllis did her best to keep that promise by trying to turn the little things into something important she also knew that Joseph was the more commited one of the two of them. He never ceased to surprise her or make her smile when she least expected it after a particularly exhausting day. Often, she had the nagging feeling that he felt the need to impress her to make her happy – a thought that was probably rooted in her own fear of needing to impress him in order not to lose him. So, of course he would be disappointed about a plan that was ruined.

Her words didn't seem to reach his mind though, when he replied, still sounding quite crestfallen upon the accidental mishap, "Still, I wanted to make this morning enjoyable for you and instead I caused you to wake up early, almost hurt yourself AND have you help me clean up my mess, and all I have for you now are these -" With that, he offered her the small bouquet of snowdrop, holly and mistletoe that survived the fall from the tray.

Their hands brushed when she took the flowers and Phyllis felt herself shiver once more. She noticed that not only had her feet gotten rather cold but her whole body was close to freezing due to the cold creeping through the thin fabric of both her dressing gown and nightdress. Of course, she would be fooling herself if she pretended that the cold was the only reason for her reaction and the soft touch from her husband had nothing at all to do with the slight tremble – or the increased heartbeat.

"And they are more than I could ever wish for", she said honestly, "All of this – here – is more than I could ever wish for. We both know where I'd be today if it hadn't been for you, and for that I'm grateful. You want to spoil me, especially on a day like today, but that's not necessary. I don't need no flowers or breakfast in bed. All I need, all I want for Christmas is you."

During her little speech, Phyllis had taken hold of her husband's hand and he was now pulling her closer towards him. Feeling the coldness eminating from her, he put his arms around her and she welcomed the embrace by snuggling her head against his shoulder. In the stillness of the early morning they forgot for a moment that they had yet to clean up around them.

After a short while, Phyllis stood on her toes to kiss her husband fiercely and say, "You know, I'm still in for that idea of a late morning in bed. I do have quite a few things in mind to occupy ourselves with, even without the breakfast."

Joseph leaned into the kiss, silently guessing exactly what his wife's idea of a late morning in bed consisted of and suddenly finding himself wanting to get back upstairs as soon as possible, too.

"Oh, I'm sure you do", he smiled, lifting her up for the second time that day, this time to carry her back up the stairs. It was true – no matter how nice the small things they did for each other on a daily basis were – when it came down to it, all they needed was each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I know Christmas is almost over but please be kind and leave a comment.


End file.
